Development of the container art, at least insofar as containers for packaging of various and sundry liquids, has progressed in the direction of providing containers with self-opening means. Further, certain of these containers are adapted with pouring spouts that are affixed to the container in some fashion to facilitate the dispensing of the contents from the container. Certain of such efforts have resulted in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,298,577 and 3,690,522 to Chlystun, both of which teach selfcontained dispensing spouts in conjunction with a container.
Certain containers are provided with a combined opening means and pouring spout, whereby upon lifting or disengaging the opening means from the top of the container, a pouring spout secured to the underside thereof is withdrawn from a nested position in the container. Such is the case with the two aforementioned patents. After withdrawal of the pouring spout, the opening means are separated from the spout whereby the contents of the container may be dispensed therethrough.
Containers of the type mentioned above are quite suitable for use in the storing and dispensing of oil, hazardous chemicals, fuels and other household and industrial compositions. An independent opener and/or spout is no longer required for use with the type containers previously described. Moreover, while certainly these prior art containers are an advance in the art, deficiencies still exist. These deficiencies are based upon the fact that once opened, the existing containers cannot be conveniently reclosed in such a manner so as to conveniently reseal the spout. U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,522 does teach a recloseable cover for a pouring spout. The present invention is an advance over this type of reclosing mechanism. In other words, the present invention has further improved the container art by providing a removable pouring spout cover that once replaced on the pouring spout recloses and reseals the pouring spout so that the container may be further used without the danger of spillage, vaporization or the like of the contents.
The prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,533,305 to Wells; 2,685,385 to Kuss; 2,895,654 to Rieke; 3,042,271 to Winstead; 3,298,577 to Chlystun; 3,326,421 to Peace; 3,481,515 to Booth et al; 3,502,246 to Kelbch; and 3,690,522 to Chlystun.